Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/PARIS: France faces disruption to transport and public services as various unions staged protests against plans to increase the pension age from 62 to 64.
According to the BBC, most metro services and trains were cancelled on Tuesday, and several schools will be closed.
It is the sixth day of union strikes and protests since mid-January, and unions say it would be the biggest yet. More than one million citizens are expected at demonstrations in Paris and other cities.
Pension plan
With the French government showing no sign of backing down on its pension plan, a union leader said they will bring “France to its knees.”
In the days ahead, there would be calls to extend the union strikes in key sectors like power generation and gas terminals. So far, for all the noise and irregular disruption, the campaign has caused little harm to the economy, and in the meantime, a bill is proceeding through parliament.
Unions and the left know time is running out before the reforms become a fait accompli – which is all the more reason for them to up the pressure now.
Most French people back the ongoing strikes against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms, a poll by French survey group Elabe suggested. According to the opinion poll, 56% of citizens support rolling strikes, and 59% back the call to bring France to a standstill.
The poll indicated that two-thirds of people support the protest movement against the government’s planned pension reforms in general.
